Local Action Groups in the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano - Bozen: administrators of European funds or agencies of local development on the territory

This thesis focuses on the LEADER Programme of the European Union, particularly on Local Action Groups in the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano – Bozen in Northern Italy. The analysis focuses on literature on the topic and qualitative research carried out in the area of interest. The focal point is to understand how Local Action Groups carry out their activities on their territories and the role they played. LAGs' activity can focus on distributing European funds, thus their target can simply be to fund different projects with the only aim to spend the money given to them by the EU Programme. However, they can assume the role of agents of local development in their territory, when funding of projects follows a long-term strategy which is not only on paper but also in the practical side.